THE GOAL
Brother and sister duo, Joe & Grace, are participating in the 34th Marathon des Sables 2019 for the charity Walk Once More to mark the 10th anniversary of an event that changed their lives forever. It will signify a huge mile stone in, not just their lives, but their entire family's lives.
So what is Marathon des Sables or MdS?
Branded "The Toughest Footrace on Earth"
It is a truly grueling multi-stage ultra-marathon in one of the world's hottest, most inhospitable environments: The Sahara Desert.
It comprises over 156 miles in 7 days (which is roughly 6 marathons a day for 7 days, with a long stage (52+ miles) thrown in the middle. It requires you to be fully self-sufficient carrying everything you need for the duration, water is rationed and temperatures often get over 50 degrees Celsius.
Hence - Siblings in the Sahara.
Our aim is threefold:
* Complete the race
* Raise £10,000 for a fantastic charity - Walk Once More
* Mark the 10th anniversary of 7th April 2009 with something remarkable
The Motivation
Whilst The Siblings are out in the desert, it will be exactly 10 years since Joe was involved in a fatal road traffic accident, April 7th 2009. Our parents were told Joe had a 3% chance of surviving the first night. After the first week they were then told he had a 95% chance of paralysis.
In the early morning of April 7th 2009 Joe was a back seat passenger in a crash that not only killed a close friend of The Siblings (Grace Hadman - pictured left with Joe in 2008), but left Joe struggling for his life. He broke my back in three different places, his neck in two difference places and had a large fracture across the diameter his skull. Whilst he was in an induced coma for almost a month, he contracted MRSA, meningitis and pneumonia. Although Joe was told he would never going to walk again, they also gave him little hope of being able to talk and see (due to the brain damage).
Despite the on-going challenges Joe faces living with a severe brain injury and the continual neck and back pain, it only felt right to do something extraordinary 10 years later. The 10 years have been long, tough and unknown, but when Grace suggested this mammoth event it simply had to be a yes.
DESERT COMMS
SEND US A MESSAGE
From Saturday 6th April until Friday 12th April you will be able to send messages to us in the desert. In order for these to reach us, they must contain the runners name and race number - so a reminder:
Joe Robinson - 565
Grace Gilbert - 445
To send a message go to: www.marathondessables.com website and click "Ecrire aux concurrents" (write to competitors).
This doesn't go live until we arrive in the desert which is why we haven't been able to post a direct link.
Any kind messages, banter, motivational quotes or similar will be a real morale booster!
(Unfortunately, we won't have much access to comms our end, so please live by the rule "no news is good news" from us - Sorry M&D!)
FOLLOW US
You can follow us in real time thanks to the world of modern technology! Much like the IRONMAN tracker (for those who have previously followed Grace) - the same applies.
The day we arrive in the desert (Saturday 6th April) we go through safety checks and briefs and kit checks etc (it is all very admin heavy - who knew?!) and a SPOT (TM) GPS tracker gets secured to our backpacks so you can see where we are and how we have done each day (please don't judge the times logged - for once stats won't be at the front of our mind).
The details for this are again at www.marathondessables.com
About Us
Joe
Joe, Joseph, Doobie, Robson, Robbo - the older brother and the reason for this adventure. He was previously a rugby player but has turned to hockey following the accident and is now giving running a go!
What he lacks in long distance experience he makes up for in character. His friendly character, jokes, and endless chat will provide endless desert entertain!
Grace
Grace - the baby sister. The engine behind the scenes. Anything adventure or challenge related and she's "in". Having cycled John O'Groats to Lands End, climbed Kilmanjaro and with two Ironmans under her belt she is well versed in endurance events. Her organisation, planning and determination will hopefully give the Siblings a good foundation to start their desert adventure.
